New Endeavours: Volume 1
New Endeavours: Volume 1 is the first book in the New Endeavours book series, it chronicles the first year of adventures for Captain Gemini Shadow and the crew of the titular ship, the USS Endeavour. It includes cameo appearances by various canon Trek characters, including Captains Jean-Luc Picard and James T. Kirk, First Officer Spock, and some of the crew of the USS Voyager. Discord, presented here as Q, plays the role of mentor to Gemini and her crew at various points. Though published in early 2017, the stories were written throughout Star Trek's 50th anniversary year. Contents # Where No Girl Has Gone Before: The Endeavour takes it maiden voyage from Earth to the planet Tenebris, faces a resurrected Nightmare Moon, and picks up its ship's doctor. # Errand of Mercy: A time anomaly sends the crew of the Endeavour back in time to the mid-2260s, specifically the events of the TOS episode "Errand of Mercy." # Blood and Fire: Based on a story idea by David Gerrold. The crew come across a ghost ship infested with Regulan bloodworms, and Gem inadvertently carries one with her back to the Endeavour. # The Forgotten Son: Based on an idea by TNG story editor Naren Shankar, Chekov returns from the planet Eurybdis-47 where he was a prisoner of war and attempts to assist the Endeavour in a diplomatic mission to that planet, only to ruin the negotiations by instigating a revenge plot. # The Dark Dimension: Inspired by the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror," a transporter accident switches an Endeavour away team with their Mirror Universe counterparts, led by Mirror Gemini, a murderous, scheming woman who cares only for herself. # The Moment: Based on the TNG episode "Yesterday's Enterprise." Q manipulates the timeline of the Dominion War to shift the USS Shadowfall forward in time to the 25th century, extending the war in the process. Now living in a timeline where she never knew her father, Gem struggles with the question of whether or not to send her father, now an old, grizzled soldier, back in time to his death. The timeline is later undone by Q. # Blame the Machines: Based on the VOY episode "The Haunting of Deck 12." The Endeavour passes through a nebula that is actually a home to a race of electrical energy beings, who quickly take over the ship and turn Chief Engineer Emerald Wave into their puppet. # Requiem: After Gem's, Raven's, and Sunset's parents are murdered by Romulan agents, the crew return home to Equestria for the funeral. This episode introduces the recurring villain of Alan Brown, an officer opposed to the inclusion of Equestria into the Federation. # Window of Opportunity: The USS Voyager drifts forward through a time eddy into the 25th century, where they meet the Endeavour. # Four Lights: Based on the TNG episode "Chain of Command." Gem is removed from command by Admiral Nechayev under false pretenses and replaced with Abacus Cinch, a cruel captain with a hatred for Equestrians. Raven stages a mutiny to rescue her sister, who is being tortured by Gul Madred of the Cardassians. # God Save the Queen: Based on the TNG episode "Best of Both Worlds." A Borg incursion leads to Gem being assimilated and made the new Borg Queen, while Raven fights to rescue her, continuing a Shadow family tradition of periodic fights with the cybernetic race. # For Those About to Rock: An episode set almost entirely within the holodeck, Ruby Rocket (Gemini Shadow) and her fellow anthro ponies are about to record their debut album when a trio of sirens arrive to spoil the fun. # Renaissance of the Changelings: Ensign Milo Iscariot is revealed to be a changeling and successfully overpowers the senior staff, delivering the crew of the Endeavour into the clutches of a reborn Queen Chrysalis. Tropes * Actual Pacifist: The Organians. * Achilles’ Heel: Milo’s is the fact that his vital signs when in human form are absolutely perfect, as if taken from a textbook. This allows Dustin and Emerald to update their tricoders to root out the changelings within Starfleet. * Adaptational Villainy: Chekov serves as the primary antagonist in "The Forgotten Son," when he tries to use the Endeavour as a weapon of war. * And the Adventure Continues: Most episodes tend to end this way with a description of the Endeavour flying off somewhere, but especially in “Renaissance of the Changelings.” * A Form You Are Comfortable With: The reason why the Organians don't always look like glowing balls of light. * Ball of Light Transformation: This is the true form of the Organians. * Bait and Switch: “Renaissance of the Changelings” starts off with a captain’s log entry and an inspiring speech by Gem, only not really since it’s Milo in disguise. He reveals himself, captures the crew, and everything goes to hell from there. * Been There, Shaped History: Gem and crew do this in "Errand of Mercy." * Big "NEVER!": Kor's reaction to Gem telling him about the future peace between The Federation and the Klingon Empire. * Body Horror: What the Regulan bloodworms do to a host: ** Twilight Sparkle: "If they touch you, they grow in your blood until they reach a certain point and then, like malaria, they explode and start looking for new flesh.” * Book Ends: The book begins and ends with Gem paraphrasing a certain Zephram Cochrane speech a year apart from each other. * Bottle Episode: "Blame the Machines" and "For Those About To Rock" all take place on the Endeavour. * Breather Episode: "For Those About to Rock" functions as this, it allows Gem to recover from the preceding two stories by pretending to be someone else for a while. * The Cavalry: Queen Calyx and her changelings arrive to rescue the senior staff as Gem is having her very life force sucked out of her. * Color-Coded For Your Convenience ** The three colors symbolizing divisions in Starfleet: Red for command, blue for sciences, and yellow for engineering. ** Calyx’s changelings are, chitin aside, mostly various shades of purple while Chrysalis and her changelings are usually various shades of green. * Color-Coded Wizardry: ** The Equestrian cast all have different colored magic auras. Emerald’s is dark green, Gem’s is dark blue. The same applies to the changelings, as those who are allied with Chrysalis have green magic, while those allied with Calyx (including Calyx herself) have purple. * Darkest Hour: In "Renaissance of the Changelings," the crew have been captured by... well, the changelings, Gem is having her very life force sucked from her body by a vengeful Chrysalis, and Dustin is unable to make any smart remarks. That's when Calyx arrives and rescues them all. * Decoy Leader: Milo pulls this off when he briefly impersonates Gem in the opening of “Renaissance of the Changelings.” * Description Cut: At least twice in “The Dark Dimension,” both times in which Prime Universe characters discuss whatever might be going on in the Mirror Universe. * Early Installment Weirdness: In “Errand of Mercy,” Gem is a little less confident in herself than she will later be, and hides this behind a wall of obvious eccentricity during the away mission, making it look as though she’s not taking her position as captain as seriously as she should. * The Empire: The Terran Empire and the Equestrian Solar Empire in “The Dark Dimension.” * Evil Twin: The Mirror Endeavour crew to the Prime one. * Face Heel Turn: Chekov goes through this in "The Forgotten Son," which takes its premise from a TNG script that was never made. He hides it for about two thirds of the story until the true horror of what was done to Eurybdis-47 is revealed to the bridge crew, at which point he reveals himself. * Foreshadowing: ** Nightmare Moon uses Gem's status as a pony-human hybrid to tempt her into ruling by her side over the rest of humanity. Gem imagines that other self and what she pictures is Mirror Gem, who joined Starfleet in order to massacre humans. ** Dustin reports the results of Ensign Iscariot’s inspection as being completely perfect, with no variations whatsoever. This becomes very important in “Renaissance of the Changelings,” when she uses this fact to uncover that there is a changeling aboard her ship approximately three lines before Iscariot bursts in and confirms her suspicions. * Kirk Summation: Gem pulls this off multiple times, but her first one happens in "Forgotten Son" as Chekov prepares to fire the ship's weapons systems at the planet below. * The Knights Who Say Squee: Gem acts like this when she, Raven, and Twilight first meet Kirk and Spock, though it doesn't exactly endear Kirk to her very much at first. Happens again when Janeway and Gem work together in "Window of Opportunity," again from Gem to Janeway. * Good Counterpart: Calyx is a changeling queen much like Chrysalis, though she isn’t evil. * Ghost Ship: The USS Magellan is this in "Blood and Fire," as it had its crew killed by Regulan blood worms. Gem notes that it belongs to the same class as the Enterprise-D, the ship her father served on and that she herself once visited a holographic recreation of as a kid. * Idiot Ball: Gem briefly holds it in "Blood and Fire" when she removes her glove to console the dead captain of the Magellan. A blood worm bites and infects her, giving her a week before she becomes completely infested with them. * It’s All My Fault: Gem berates herself for getting infected in “Blood and Fire,” Dustin is quick to cheer her up. * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Sort of. The opening and closing scenes in “Renaissance of the Changelings” remark on the end of the crew’s first year (volume) in space. * Left Hanging: The whereabouts of Queen Chrysalis after Calyx knocks her out cold are never shown or discussed, except for a brief mention in the captain’s log entry that closes “Renaissance of the Changelings.” * Magic Antidote: Literally in “Blood and Fire,” as the bloodworms can’t be defeated using Starfleet science, so Dustin whips up a potion using a Zebra recipe, using his magical abilities to cure Gem. * Meaningful Name: Ensign Milo Iscariot shares his name with Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. * The Mole: Milo Iscariot is this, which is fitting considering he shares his last name with the Biblical Judas Iscariot. He betrays the crew and successfully takes over the Endeavour for the changelings in “Renaissance of the Changelings.” * Name’s the Same: Discussed by Picard and Gem in relation to the changelings, the insect-like shapeshifters from Equestria and the Delta quadrant aliens. * Near-Villain Victory: In "Renaissance of the Changelings." Odds are, if Calyx hadn't intervened when she did, Gem would've been killed and the rest of the crew too, or made slaves of the changelings while they used the Endeavour to wreck havoc on the Federation. * Playing with Fire: The Organians make all weapons, including the control panels on the Endeavour too hot to handle. Even hand to hand combat causes burning pain. * Prevent the War: Why Starfleet Command sends the Endeavour to fight the Borg, figuring that being magical gives them an advantage. They turn out to be right, since even when Gem gets assimilated, the thaumaturgical glands remain intact. * Purple Eyes: Calyx has these. * The Quisling: Chekov to the Federation as a whole in "Forgotten Son." * Ripple-Effect Proof Memory: The girls are implied to have this, but the historical records Twilight looks up whenever time travel stories happen usually wind up having any future details erased. * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Chekov tries this when he appears in "The Forgotten Son," and almost succeeds, but Gem manages to stop him in the nick of time. * Shout Out: In the teaser for "Errand of Mercy," Gem is listening to the exact same jazz record that the Doctor was in the 1996 TV movie. And just like in the movie, the record skips when the ship hits some turbulence. This doubles as foreshadowing, since they had traveled back in time to the 23rd century. * Shut Up, Kirk!: Chekov responds to Gem's Kirk Summation in this manner. * Stable Time Loop: The Organian peace treaty still happens, and the Klingons still become friends with the humans, it's just that Gem and her crew have become part of those events. * Time Travel: One of Christa's favourite plot devices. ** "Errand of Mercy" uses it to bring the Endeavour's crew back in time to the 2260s, specifically the episode of TOS that the story is named after. ** "Window of Opportunity" uses it to bring the crew of the USS Voyager forward to 2403. * Wham Episode: ** "Requiem" kills off Orion at the start of the episode, and the rest of the story is spent dealing with the fallout on top of "negotiations" with the Romulans. ** “Renaissance of the Changelings” serves as this, given it’s the last one of the book. The crew are captured by the Big Bads of the Orion Chronicles, betrayed by one of their own, and the seeds are sewn for the upcoming war that will follow. * Wrong Genre Savvy: Gem in "Errand of Mercy" as she constantly attempts to treat the Klingon issue as if she was still in Equestria, only to have it not work.